To help celebrate International Education Week, Elgin Community College hosted the Immigrant Women’s Round Table on Nov. 15, 2023. The panel featured five women from our community who shared their personal experiences of having immigrated to the United States. Ahead of the event, The Observer interviewed a few of the panelists to have a more in-depth look at their stories. 

Claudia’s Story

Board member with the Family Service Association of Greater Elgin Claudia Serrano immigrated to the United States from Leon, Guanajuato ten years ago.

Initially, Serrano had no intention of coming to the United States, but life had other plans for her.

“When I was young, I knew my neighbor and after 30 years, I saw him again and now he’s my husband,” said Serrano. “My husband has been living here for 35 years. We got married and I came to live with him; I follow him, it’s my love story…before we got married, I never saw in my mind living here.”

While Serrano wouldn’t change anything, being apart from her ten siblings and her mother’s passing has proven difficult.

“For me, the most difficult part was leaving my family in Mexico, and when I was here, my mom passed away,” said Serrano. “Losing her was the most difficult part and not seeing my family with the same frequency; now that I’m a citizen, I can travel to see them, one, maximum two occasions a year.”

When asked about being an immigrant woman, Serrano said much of it comes down to starting from scratch and there’s often discrimination that comes along with it.

“You need to make your own way and, on a lot of occasions, you need to start at zero,” Serrano said. “…Building your own way is hard. It’s hard being an immigrant woman because, on a lot of occasions, I felt discrimination as a [Hispanic] woman. Sometimes, I was ahead for an opportunity for work and lost it because of the language [barrier].”

Once Serrano became pregnant with her first child, life became increasingly difficult. Finding resources that were better suited to her needs and available in her native language, proved to be a challenge.

“The first year was very hard because I became pregnant with my first baby,” said Serrano. “It was hard having sufficient resources for me- especially in Spanish.”

Serrano is a board member of Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI), as well as a delegate of POWER-PAC, a subgroup of COFI whose mission is to better the lives of families by empowering parents to advocate for themselves and their children. Serrano credits them with empowering her to be able to advocate for herself and her family.

“Four years ago, I knew one organization,” Serrano said. “I am part of [Parents with Power].. that organization gave me sufficient resources to feel more comfortable. They gave me more leadership, more confidence and taught me how to advocate for myself and my children.”

Serrano, who also works with the Family Service Association (FSA), wants to give back and help her community by providing them with the same resources and confidence that she struggled with in her early years in the United States.

“When I came here, it was hard finding resources in my language,” Serrano said. “…I want to be able to help new families and old families who are needing these resources, [specifically] for living here more happily, more comfortably and looking for the correct…service they need.”

Monika’s Story

Senior Director at the Education and Work Center for ECC and Harper College Monika Gadek-Stephan immigrated to the United States from Bielsko-Biala, Poland in 1995.

After finishing her degree in Poland, Gadek-Stephan vacationed here a few times to better hone her English.

“I was a student, I finished university and had my English degree,” said Gadek Stephan. “I wanted to practice more listening and speaking because I thought I was lacking and I decided to come here for vacation to immerse myself in the culture.”

Upon arrival, Gadek-Stephan experienced a few unexpected culture shocks; from the diversity of our country to the sheer size of everything.

One she still can’t come to terms with? The sheer amount of food we waste.

“On the household level, I was surprised how much food people wasted because I come from a country that was very frugal,” Gadek-Stephan said. “Post WWII we had the communist regime and then there were problems with the delivery systems. I’ve lived through waiting in the bread line with my mom or for toilet paper; you’d walk in the store and there was only vinegar on the shelves. I worked here as a babysitter in the beginning and I’d see a lot of food going to waste, it was breaking my heart. That’s something I still can’t get used to.”

One cultural difference that Gadek-Stephan appreciates is the expectation of marriage and children for women in the United States.

“In Poland, there is more [of an] expectation of being married and with children at a certain age, and here there is- I didn’t feel that pressure so I appreciated that,” said Gadek-Stephan. “It’s more open for women.”

Much like Serrano, Gadek-Stephan initially had no intentions of moving to the United States.

“I met my husband and I decided to stay,” Gadek-Stephan said. “Immigration was never my goal here. I love my country, I was comfortable and my whole family is there; there was no pressing political or economic need.”

For a few years, Gadek-Stephan did not seek to become a citizen. Once the ball started rolling, however, she found it to be a lengthy and difficult process. She partially attributes this to not gathering enough information and it’s something she regrets not having done more research on.

“I didn’t ask more questions and the people around me didn’t have enough information I think,” said Gadek-Stephan. “I wish I had asked more questions outside of my immediate bubble…I paid for someone to fill out my green card application and I didn’t have to. Now I would ask more questions.”